Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Coarse"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Coarse \Coarse\, a. [Compar. {Coarser}; superl. {Coarsest}.] [As
this word was anciently written course, or cours, it may be
an abbreviation of of course, in the common manner of
proceeding, common, and hence, homely, made for common
domestic use, plain, rude, rough, gross, e. g., ``Though the
threads be course.'' --Gascoigne. See {Course}.]
1. Large in bulk, or composed of large parts or particles; of
inferior quality or appearance; not fine in material or
close in texture; gross; thick; rough; -- opposed to
{fine}; as, coarse sand; coarse thread; coarse cloth;
coarse bread.
2. Not refined; rough; rude; unpolished; gross; indelicate;
as, coarse manners; coarse language.
I feel Of what coarse metal ye are molded. --Shak.
To copy, in my coarse English, his beautiful
expressions. --Dryden.
Syn: Large; thick; rough; gross; blunt; uncouth; unpolished;
inelegant; indelicate; vulgar.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
coarse
adj 1: of texture; large-grained or rough to the touch; "coarse
meal"; "coarse sand"; "a coarse weave" [ant: {fine}]
2: lacking refinement or cultivation or taste; "he had coarse
manners but a first-rate mind"; "behavior that branded him
as common"; "an untutored and uncouth human being"; "an
uncouth soldier--a real tough guy"; "appealing to the
vulgar taste for violence"; "the vulgar display of the
newly rich" [syn: {common}, {uncouth}, {vulgar}]
3: of low or inferior quality or value; "of what coarse metal
ye are molded"- Shakespeare; "produced...the common cloths
used by the poorer population" [syn: {common}]
4: conspicuously and tastelessly indecent; "coarse language";
"a crude joke"; "crude behavior"; "an earthy sense of
humor"; "a revoltingly gross expletive"; "a vulgar
gesture"; "full of language so vulgar it should have been
edited" [syn: {crude}, {earthy}, {gross}, {vulgar}]
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